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With Hurricane Sandy bearing down across the east coast, small businesses are reminded of the importance of disaster preparedness planning. And direct deposit paycards are an important part of any such plan.

Both local and non-local emergencies can make receiving pay on payday difficult if not impossible for workers who aren't on direct deposit. When natural disasters occur in a hub city from which paychecks are mailed or air traffic is grounded, employees can not receive paper pay checks in a timely manner.

Yet according to a recent NACHA study, small businesses account for nearly 50 percent paper checks written in the U.S., not including government checks. Research suggest that many of the paper checks written in the US are small B2B payments but 12 percent are for small business … more

According to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, beginning on January 1, 2012, Acquirers in the electronic payments industry were required to report credit card payments to the IRS.

In addition, Acquirers are also responsible for performing backup withholding on any merchants whose information (name and tax ID) does not match IRS records.

All merchants are encouraged to confirm that their merchant services provider has the most current, up to date and accurate TIN information on file. Merchants should consider submitting a copy of their W-9 form or a copy of the SS-4 form as part of the application process or upon any changes to their businesses legal structure that shows exactly how the merchant’s name is filed with the IRS therefore substantially reducing the … more

American Express’ Small Business Saturday is scheduled for Saturday, November 24, 2012. Small Business Saturday falls between Black Friday and Cyber Monday and is dedicated to driving sales to small businesses on one of the busiest holiday shopping weekends of the year.

This year, American Express is giving small merchants that accept American Express® Cards free advertising and motivating consumers to make this the biggest day of the year for small business. Be one of the first to know when you can sign up for free ads and get your marketing materials for Small Business Saturday at www.americanexpress.com/ShopSmallMerchant.

Vantage is encouraging all merchants to sign up early and to promote Small Business Saturday. If you don't accept American Express currently, simply … more